Newspaper Page Text
Tht* Red and Black
>*»ge 4
Tuesday, November 3, 1987
Opinion
THE RED AND BLACK
Established 1893 — Incorporated 1980
Frank Steele, Editor-in-Chief
Eauran Neergaard, Managing Editor
An independent newspaper not affiliated with the L’nive f «ity of Georgia
Leathers for mayor
Discounting one vote for Satan in last Friday’s mock
Athens mayoral election, results indicate University stu
dents want a mayor who is sensitive to their needs and de
sires. And The Red and Black’s editorial board agrees.
That is why we support Republican candidate Fred
Leathers for mayor of Athens, and urge all registered voters
to pull the lever in his favor at the polls today.
In a Students for a Better Athens City Government-spon
sored mock election Friday, Leathers received 72.4 percent,
or 129 of the 178 votes cast. Democratic candidate Dwain
Chambers received 49 votes, and a few votes were for write-
in candidates, inlcuding Satan.
Some may point to the University’s large Republican stu
dent groups as to why Leathers defeated the Democrat
Chambers, but the reasons run much deeper.
At first glance there seems to be little difference between
Leathers and Chambers. Both are for consolidating the city
and county and both support the sales tax referendum on the
ballot today to pay for planned county construction.
While it may sound like the paper is shedding its tradi
tionally liberal stance in supporting a Republican candidate,
when you really get down to it, Chambers and his supporters
have a more conservative look than their opponent.
Chambers’ backers support closing area bars at 10 p.m.
and would like to see Athens growth carefully checked.
Chambers said he would like to see Athens stay relatively
the same and said he wouldn’t take an active role in re
cruiting businesses to the city.
On the other hand, Leathers says he would take a active
role in bringing new businesses to the area, encouraging
growth. After all, Atlanta, a rapidly growing metropolis 60
miles away, may one day engulf Athens into its suburbs.
The University is a huge part of the growing Classic City,
and students, who spend loads of dough in the city, don’t
want their opinions to fall on deaf ears.
And that’s what our support of Leathers hinges on.
In an article in Friday’s paper, Chambers recognized
that the University is a valuable part of Athens but believes
it receives enough attention from the city.
He even went so far as to say he didn’t “know what’s
trying to be proven,” but “students can have a mock elec
tion if they so choose. The one that counts is next Tuesday
(today).”
This flippant remark suggests that Chambers doesn’t
really care what the students want for the University and
for Athens.
We agree with Mark Rountree, a University senior polit
ical science major and College Republican state and
campus chairman, who said, “If this is the attitude of the
next mayor of Athens, that (University students) should be
seen and paddled but not heard, then I don’t think that’s
going to win him much support.”
One of Leathers’ proposals, if elected mayor, is to set up
a monthly meeting between county commissioners, the
mayor and University adminstrators to discuss the needs of
the University. This is hardly a token gesture.
Even if you don't support Leathers, get out and vote
anyway. Student particpation in Athens elections tradition
ally is low, but if students make a large showing in this and
upcoming local elections, we can prevent attitudes such as
Chambers’ that are apathetic to student concerns.
LauranNeergaard
States must stand tall in Gulf
To fight or not to fight?
The United States has been waffling about that
question for months now as the Iranian threat
grows bigger in the Persian Gulf.
Other Arab nations obviously fear becoming
entangled in the seven-year Iran-Iraq war,
cringing at the thought of mighty Iran bombing
their civilians and taking control of their rich oil
fields. Saudi Arabia, while claiming neutrality,
in fact funded Iraq’s reprisals against Iran this
past year, at the cost of $200 million a month As
this funding now has been exposed, King Fahd is
cutting it by half from fear of Iranian retaliation.
Saud Nasi al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti ambassador
to the United States, summed up Arab hesi
tation: “Do they expect us to retaliate against
Iran, (which has) 48 million people? We are a
small nation. Our only hope is diplomatic chan
nels.”
Such is the hope of many Middle Eastern na
tions, who pray the war will not touch them. Yet
it has already Their hope that ignoring the
problem will make them safe is hurting their re
lations with the United States. A mighty super
power, we don’t understand their rationale. We
think they should be concerned with interna
tional affairs, especially regional ones, because
if nothing else they do affect these countries' oil
prices.
Meanwhile, fighting this psychological mech
anism as well as an unpredictable and irrational
adversary, our servicemen sit on rusty tankers
waiting for orders.
Is today the day we go into combat? Or do we
sit and wait for the Iranians to bomb us? Or will
we die because of a mistake like our fellow sol
diers on the frigate Stark, which was hit by a
misguided Iraqi missile? Will the weapons we
fight against be those sent to Iran during the
Letters
Irangate scandal,
kilting us because of
American wheeling
and dealing? Or will
we just sit here for
ever?
There these serv
icemen sit on the al
most 30 warships that
keep Iran somewhat
at bay and protect the
frightened oil-pro
ducing “allies," if you can call countries who re
fuse to give and only take from relationships
with protective countries
Sitting on these old small ships, there because
the Arab states won’t allow enough room for our
new supertankers, the servicemen can see the
hulks of Soviet ships.
Are they threatening us? As of yet, not physi
cally. Are they waiting to help Iran? Or will they
wait until lranian-American confrontation
weakens both sides so they can step in?
At home, support for these soldiers has been
minimal at best. Protests by anti-war peacenik
leftovers from the '60s in early fall delayed per
mission for the soldiers to receive combat pay;
congressional controversy about Reagan's com
pliance with the War Powers Act further weak
ened support for these defenders of American
foreign policy. Finally, they were blatantly ig
nored as the stock market crash dominated the
news.
What kind of message does that send to our ad
versaries? That Iran can do just about whatever
the hell it pleases with little concern about signif
icant retaliation
Granted, our involvement in the Gulf is debat
able. On one hand, we do have oil interests and
allies to protect. On the other hand, flagging Ku
waiti oilships was just asking for trouble.
But now that we're in the Gulf, we have an ob
ligation to uphold our own policy. To date Ira
nian aggression has gone by with very little
challenge Several oil targets and six Iranian mi
litiamen have fallen to U S. retaliation Well,
gee, Iran is a country with a history of bloodshed
now led by fanatics. Loss of six men is no deter
rent in this context
So what do we do? Continue to rise and fall
with the tide? If we do, the Iranians will get
bolder and eventually we’ll be mourning some of
our men, wishing we d taken better steps. Hind
sight is always 2020.
We could declare war on Iran; it has declared
war on us already.
But better is the Reagan brand of retaliation
that has been so successful in the past. Quick,
determined military action assures success The
Marine invasion of Grenada stabilized that
country, and bombing Libya took the sting out of
Khadafys aggression
Now is the time to go for the jugular again. It's
time for Reagan to show some of his old spunk
again, before we run the risk of having a pacifist
take office who will let Iran go unchallenged
Tomorrow I'd like to pick up my morning
newspaper and not see headlines of more stock
market fluctuation.
Instead there would be stories of the successful
U.S. military strike against Iranian military
bases as well as a bombing of Tehran, the cap
ital city. The story that would end as the strike
against Libya did: With the roar of our adver
sary stilled and American power again affirmed.
Lauran Neergaard is managing editor of The
Red and Black.
Editorial: 543-1809 Advertising: 543-1 791
Editor in Chi*/ Frank Steele
Managing Editor Lauran Neergaard
New* Editor Hector Vargas
Entertainment Editor Nicole Gustin
Sport* Editor Lon Clark
Front Page Copy Editor Julie Carey
CM of Copy Editor Theron Corse
Copy Editor Frank Lynch
Associate New* Editor* Jett Turner. Keith
Phillips
Features Editor Will Ostick
Assistant Sports Editor and BTH Editor
Jun Callts
Assistant BTH Editor Jeff Henderson
Sports Writer Brooks Melchior
Entertainment Writer Jim Farmer
Editorial Assistant Elizabeth Wood
Pictures Editor Joe Kuppich
Chief Photographer Andrew von Kleydorff
Staff Artists Chris Harmon. Mark Baran
UGA Today Coordinator Glenn Mornson
Senior Reporters Ann Buffington. Rich
Faulkner, Keliette Isom. Charlene Smith.
Jonathan Tully, Kevan Ward, Jeff Wohl
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Letters Policy
The Red and Black welcomes letters to the editor and prints them
as space permits Because ol space limitations and le^al consider
ations. all letters are subject to standard editing lor libelou* material
and length Short letters are preferred and stand a better chance ol
running
To Ik* considered lor publication, letters must be double spaced on
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cation anti major or other appropriate indentification prolessor
Union ollicer. etc » We can onut \our name in print lor a valid
reason upon request
I a* Iters can lie sent b\ U S mail or brought in person to The Red
ami Black offices at 12:t North Jackson St . Athens. Gu town
SA predictable as S(,A
TO THE EDITOR:
The office of the now-defunct Stu
dent Government Association
(SGA) was a lovely place. Its posi
tion in Memorial Hall provided a
great view of the campus and the
veranda outside the office was a
fantastic location from which to
catch rays. Only the best for the stu
dent representatives.
On a sunny spring day in 1977
during my first visit to the SGA of
fice as a newly elected senator from
the College of Arts and Sciences, 1
witnessed an event that greatly in
fluenced me and which is quite rele
vant to recent headlines on the
Frankensteinish Student Associa
tion (SGA less the G).
A group of Ag students were in
the office to see the SGA president,
Rob Hancock. The students wanted
to volunteer their time to improve
the softball area at the intramural
fields They wanted access to some
rakes, shovels and other imple
ments of destruction with which to
perform their volunteer work. The
Ag students had discussed the pro
posal with University President
Fred C. Davison, who shuffled them
off to SGA
What was the SGA president's re
sponse to the Ag students? Why, of
course, he would refer it to his stu
dent services committee I hope the
Ag students aren't still waiting for
an answer from the student govern
ment committee With this incident
still in my mind, I had to let out a
few chuckles when I saw the Oc
tober 15 headline "SA committee
will form to arrange student rep
resentative elections ” What else
would be the initial step of some ju
nior bureaucrats? Form a com
mittee! Rah’ The world of student
government is rather predictable.
What was surprising was an Oc
tober 16 editorial questioning why
members of SA did not take the lead
in the open party issue. Come on,
now! Can the editorial staff of The
Red and Black be so naive as to
think that SA’s members care to do
any real work? Certainly, SA’s
main task is to get in tight with the
new University President and re
maining cronies from the old re
gime such as Dwight Douglas.
Letters of recommendation from
high-placed officials look good in ap
plying for a)law school, b)graduate
school, c)a job or d)all of the above.
My input to the whole chimerical
SA sham is a word of advice for the
over 25.0U0 students who did not
vote to resurrect the wothless SGA
— history shows that SGA clones
can be aborted One year after
SGA’s 1979 death, a committee of
resume-padders tried to force the
birth of a new SGA called the Arts
and Sciences School Council The
Abolitionist Party prevented this
farcical council from getting off the
ground by winning a majority in the
Arts and Sciences election
1 know that the spirit of abolition
lives in Athens If and when SA ever
puts out enough effort to organize
an election, do yourself a favor and
mark the ballot for the anti-SA’ers
Don’t let select students with a com
mittee fetish have a monopoly on
the panoramas and sunshine on
campus After all, the old SGA
spent $30,000 a year And as we used
to say from the tracks, "Thirty
thousand dollars is a lot of kegs ”
J. Harold Mulherin III
University SGA President, 1979
Abolitionist Party
SBC protecting Mercer
TO THE EDITOR:
After reading Theron Corse's
column "The heathens rage among
us," I felt led to respond to the other
side of the story. Corse only pointed
out the things he considered bad
that are happening to Mercer He
left out the good these fundamental
ists are trying to accomplish.
The fundamentalists are trying to
bring the Mercer University board
of trustees under control of the
Southern Baptist Convention. It is
evident to me that problems would
never have occurred if the trustees
were doing an effective job of run
ning Mercer
Corse said he believes the funda
mentalists should "leave a thing of
beauty alone.” I suppose he was ref
erring to the freedom the students
have to act as they want while on
campus It is my understanding that
Mercer was founded to promote an
atmosphere and teaching which is
acceptable to Christians. If the
school can continue this way of life,
Mercer will lose its reputation and
no longer attract the type of people
it was founded to serve
It appears to me that Lee Roberts
is only trying to maintain the repu
tation of the school and Baptists in
general, yet he is being ridiculed for
it. If the Christian schools do not re
flect what they should, where is the
example the world needs to follow
going to come from? If it takes
making Mercer a Bob Jones Bible
School to put them back on track,
then that is what should be done.
Mr. Corse seems to think that the
fundamentalists want to limit the
amount of new knowledge at
Mercer I honestly don’t believe the
fundamentalists want anyone to
stop learning and expanding their
knowledge in any area of education
unless the students want to use
Playboy as a textbook. I also don't
believe the fundamentalists want to
take away freedom of religious ex
pression. But when I look at the
people who think Mercer should be
allowed to continue the way it is, I
have to consider the type of people
they are The only time they refer to
God is when they take his name in
vain instead of letting him be the
guiding force in their life.
I would just like for Corse to think
the next time he starts name-calling
and ridiculing God’s people Your
desk was not given to you to cast
stones at people and a religion you
probably know very little about.
Tony Elrod
Senior, agricultural economics
Turner 'on target'
TO THE EDITOR:
In response to Jeff Turner’s
column “Rights require responsibi
lities," I was pleased to hear a
fellow student take a stand against
all of the pointless whining and
complaining that goes on at this uni
versity in essence, if you have a
problem with the way a particular
governing body does things, don’t
just complain, do something respon
sible and get involved in trying to
change what you see as unjust
This holds true for alcohol and
open party restraints as well as stu
dents exempting their financial aid
from taxation If all each student
did was write a letter expressing
their sentiments to the appropriate
people in authority, the results
might be surprising Having at
tended the University for five years,
I personally can attest to the worth
less nature of complaints not fol
lowed by action.
In order to have a prayer of chan
ging or repealing any administra
tive decision, students must
approach the situation with a cool
head and a mature attitude. Stu
dents, especially underclassmen,
learn now how important it is to put
thoughts into action to achieve an
objective After all, the sooner we
all realize that sitting around and
complaining never got anything
done, the better off we all will be.
Stuart Richardson
Senior, agricultural economics